Elgar: Sea Pictures/Polonia/Pomp & Circumstance - Hallé/Elder

13 November 2015, 14:07

Drive Featured Album, starting Monday 16 November 2015 after 6pm

The latest release in Hallé's award-winning Elgar Edition features a much-anticipated studio recording of Sea Pictures, coupled with the lesser known tone-poem Polonia and Elgar's five original Pomp and Circumstance Marches.

Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé have previously released acclaimed and award-winning versions of The Dream of Gerontius and The Kingdom.

Here all of the rich orchestral textures and stunning vocal settings of Elgar's Sea Pictures are vividly brought to life, with mezzo soprano Alice Coote on particularly thrilling form.

The five Pomp and Circumstance Marches are a perfect vehicle with which to display the technical and artistic skill of the Hallé under Elder.

The biggest revelation here is Elgar's brilliantly orchestrated tone-poem Polonia which has long been overlooked. But this recording should re-establish this highly engaging work with its quotations from Chopin and Polish folk tunes, written as a tribute to Poland’s contribution to the Allied cause in the First World War.